Huntsman with his wife, Karen Haight, and granddaughter Jacquelin in 2003Rex

The men in dark suits turned up at the office and refused to give their names to his secretary. One had a briefcase strapped to his wrist. Jon Huntsman assumed they were federal agents seeking to interview him about his time in the White House as staff secretary under President Nixon, a job he quit shortly before the Watergate scandal.

The reality was more benign than it looked. Inside the briefcase was nothing more sinister than a hamburger-sized polystyrene container. The pair were executives with McDonald’s and they wanted to learn about his plan to protect the Big Mac.

It was 1974 and Huntsman was fearful for the future of his petrochemicals company. In desperation he came up with an inspired idea: create a polystyrene,…

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